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This Is Me--2019 A to Z Theme

The Challenge of 2019 was the 10th! Since this was kind of a milestone year for A to Z my theme was a retrospective of sorts, looking at my 10 years as a blogger as well as ruminations about my life as it is and as I hope it yet can be. I've got places to be and people to see along the way. Hope you'll join me for this part of my journey...

Always a work in progress--welcome to my blog.

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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Life Is Good: A Guest Post From Tina

Many of you have already received a visit from Tina of Life Is Good or Shannon from The Warrior Muse as they attempt the massive undertaking of visiting all of the participants listed on the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge list of 2011. Shannon will be my guest on August 3rd, but today Tina is joining us to tell a little about herself, her blog, and the Post A to Z Challenge Challenge.

HI. My name is Tina and I'm competitive. And stubborn. And not one to back off from a dare. Let alone a triple dog dare. But to be honest, this wasn't a dare. It was just me being stubborn and competitive. I'll admit that. After all, isn't the blogging community one big group of supportive friends, no matter what we need to confess to? That's what I've found in the last year or so. So yeah, I decided that I was going to visit every one of the 1282 registered participants in the AZ Challenge. Call me Julie of “Julie and Julia”. Although she had a much tougher challenge. She was cooking 524 recipes in 365 days. I'm just reading and commenting with no particular deadline.

I found the original AZ Challenge sorta tangentially. (Yes, self-professed math nerd. But the only time I ever used that degree was for tutoring. My eight years of 7th grade math and English students never needed M424: Abstract Number Theory or the M317: Calculus of One Variable notes I so carefully saved. ((For non-math types: in that course you write proofs to show why calculus works. Not for sissies. In fact, most people have to take it numerous times to get the required C for math majors. I'm just enough of a snob to tell you I got an A the first time.)) (And I over-use parentheses and even though I taught English, that isn't part of the 7th grade curriculum and my English education was “only” a minor.) And I just watched Inception. Makes me realize I had parenth's within parenths...somebody teach me this! Or take the red pill and stay in the rabbit hole with me. (Movie quoting is an Olympic sport in our family. Feel free to compete.) Ok, back to the tangent thing.

So there I was, blogging to practice writing, and to get constructive feedback. “Life is Good” is mostly me telling stories from my childhood, or crazy college antics, some tortured love-lorn poetry for prompts, and I was participating in a meme a day, just about. So I signed up for A-Z Challenge because I'd hit some doldrums in my blogging. I've been reading Rayna M. Iyer's “Coffee Rings Everywhere and that led me to Alex J. Cavanaugh and the challenge. (If you're with me on the tangent thing, explain it to me in the comments. First nerd, whether math or otherwise, gets a prize.) See, there I go. Competitive.

This challenge came at a really good time in my blogging journey. I started “Life is Good” in 2009 with the intention of practicing my skill and getting HONEST, constructive criticism in order to improve. However, only a few brave souls, aka my friends, ever read anything. At that point I knew nothing about blog-hops or weekly prompts, or anything about the etiquette assumptions in Blogland. But there have been many wonderful mentors in this new world I found, and many faithful readers who have helped me, by their presence and support, through one of the toughest times in my life. I've told some of the stories in posts, in poetry, and in rambling diatribes which probably shouldn't have gotten the “publish post” button pushed. But it's all me, and I'm not shy. I'm Swedish. (Nudity is no big deal there.) The A-Z Challenge shook me loose from the doldrumsand I met new, wonderful, supportive bloggers.

I didn't really have anything planned for HOW I was going to complete it like some of you clever folks who picked a theme for the month. I just knew I needed a challenge to feed my competitive nature and get the blog back in gear after sitting on the side of the road feeling sorry for myself for a while. It worked. (For a full reflection of the challenge go to “How to Fix Your Sex Life: AZ Challenge Reflections") Yes, that's what I called it. Kinda goes with the nudity...

Ok, now that you're all caught up (or going to be, once you hit the links above ;-) I do want to say a bit about the Post Challenge-Challenge. Like I said in the opening paragraph, it's for me a competetive thing. When Shannon commented to me that she was doing the same thing, I thought that being stubborn and competitive is a lot easier with a friend. So we went from there.

It's been a great ride so far, and I'm looking forward to more friendships built as those of us who hopped on this Post-Challenge Challenge train continue our travels. Who knows what will happen next year. I, for one, will be on that ride, too. Maybe with a theme...

My special thanks to Tina. I hope you will stop by her blog and say hello. While you're there you might even want to click the follow button so you can keep up with Tina's future posts and if you're up to the Challenge, join the fun by adding your blog to the Challenge list.

Over the next several Wednesdays I will be hosting special guests here at Tossing It Out. Next week my special guest will be Karen Walker from Following the Whispers. Please come back for some great advice about memoir writing.

Good morning, Lee! Thanks so much for letting me guest post! I'm hoping many others will join the new challenge. A world of great writers is out there just waiting for us to find them. I'm so grateful many have found me. Tina @ Life is Good

Hello dear commenters~ I've made my way around to visit those who I could find, and I've emailed those of you gave me that option. If I've missed you, it's not for lack of trying! I'd love to go see you all and thank you for your support, and leave my footprints at your blog. You can drop me an email and invite me! It'stndowney at gmail dot com. Tina @ Life is Good

Go ahead and say something. Don't be afraid to speak your mind.I normally try to respond to all comments in the comment section so please remember to check the "Email follow-up comments" box if you want to participate in the comment conversation.

For Battle of the Bands voting the "Anonymous" commenting option has been made available though this version is the least preferred. If voting using "anonymous" please include in your comment your name (first only is okay) and city you are voting from and the reason you chose the artist you did.

If you know me and want to comment but don't want to do it here, then you can send me an email @ jacksonlee51 at aol dot com.

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A juggler of words and phrases. My main blog is Tossing It Out. The focus blog for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge can now be found at a-to-zchallenge.com where updates will be posted until the event in April begins.
Wrote By Rote is about memoir writing.
A Few Words is my Sunday contemplation blog.
A Faraway View is about dreams. Pick what you like or look at them all. I love blogging!